PSCDCL, GCNI sign MoU to develop Pune under ‘Smart City Plan’

Pune Smart City Development Corporation Limited (PSCDCL) and Global Compact Network India (GCNI) together announced signing of a five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on July 1st, 2016 to prepare a framework of Governance for Pune Smart city through compliance and procurement management as well as Public Private Partnership Module (PPP) to develop Pune as a world class city under the Smart Cities Mission.

GCNI will be partnered by Legasis Services Pvt. Ltd (Legasis), Mumbai and VMC Management Consulting Pvt. Ltd (Vision 360), New Delhi to achieve the objectives as specified in the MoU.

GCNI, formed in November 2000, was registered in 2003 as a non-profit society to function as the Indian Local Network of the UN Global Compact.

It is the first Local Network in the world to be established with full legal recognition. GCNI provides a country level platform for businesses, civil society organisations, public and private sector, aids in aligning stakeholders’ responsible practices towards the Ten Universally Accepted UNGC Principles in the areas of Human Rights, Labour, Environment and Anti-corruption, broad UN goals including Sustainable Development Goals and other key sister initiatives of the United Nations and its systems.

GCNI established the Centre of Excellence for Governance, Ethics and Transparency (CEGET) in March 2015 to develop pragmatic approaches to the 10th UNGC Principle of Anticorruption. The ‘Governance of Smart Cities’ programme is a flagship initiative of CEGET.

The timelines and the scope of work of the project have been crystallized through subsequent meetings and will remain dynamic in the 1st year of the Project. The advisory service on governance and compliance to the Special purpose Vehicle (SPV) shall be based on statutory provisions under Indian law and standard industry norms.

The focus shall be on developing an integrated customized IT solution for governance, compliance and performance of statutory functions of the SPV and providing a Public Private Partnership (PPP) framework for designing transaction procedures, formulating evaluation parameters, building financial models and defining an acceptable exit strategy.

Relaying the quintessential idea behind Smart Cities Mission, Municipal Commissioner of Pune Municipal Corporation and Director of PSCDCL, Kunal Kumar said, “There was a time when ends justified the means, but that adage does not hold true any longer. In the newly evolving public governance debates good governance, ethics and transparency are the key enablers for Sustainable Development.”

“Pune Smart City is happy to be the first smart city to partner with UN Global Compact India (GCNI), and align its implementation strategy with the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals set forth by the United Nations in September, 2015 and adopted by 193 member countries. We are confident that with this added edge Pune will lead the smart city implementation plans in the country,” added Kumar.

“Specific goals need to be prioritized out of 17 SDGs and then quantified along the targets set to be achieved within those goals. Good governance will be a subterranean force that will see through the dynamic execution of smart cities project,” said Additional Commissioner (Spl), Pune Municipal Corporation and also Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PSCDCL, Prerna Deshbhratar.

“The UN Global Compact India stands committed to the implementation of vision of Smart Cities, as all the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals find a reflection in the smart city mission of the Government. Pune joins 149 cities and regions around the world in its commitment to address complex global challenges at a local level through a collaborative model between government, civil society, and businesses,” added Director GCNI, Shabnam Siddiqui.